


all we do is drive

by currahees



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M, idk what this is but it took me a week to write, its just happiness and shenanigans with the boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/currahees/pseuds/currahees
Summary: a really long roadtrip that doesn't make much sense geographically but has everyone's favourite boys in it.
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe, Carwood Lipton/Ronald Speirs, George Luz/Joseph Toye, Joseph Liebgott/David Kenyon Webster, Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	all we do is drive

**Author's Note:**

> notes: idk how america is laid out, i had to google a map and even then i'm not sure this makes too much sense. but shhh it's okay just ignore it. its mainly just cute i promise. maybe one day i'll write about their roadtrip home who knows. also this hasn't been proofread, we die unedited like men. find me on tumblr, my username is speirtons!

Dick isn’t _really_ sure how he got dragged into this.

Well, actually, he knows how it all happened. But he still can’t believe he said yes. When Nix suggested driving to visit a few of their friends across the country, he thought he was kidding. Nix could afford to fly them all out three times over and still not make a dent in his bank account, plus he hated driving. But Nix didn’t give up on the idea, he kept bringing it up over dinner and before bed and during their breakfast and Dick couldn’t say no any longer. He was warming to the idea quickly.

Now, after spending four hours in the car with Nix, Ron and Carwood, he was already regretting his decision. Dick had to force Ron out of the drivers seat after he ran the second red light (”It wasn’t red yet, it was orange! You guys just don’t like my driving”) and he had been driving for the past two and a half hours. And they still had four days left. _Four days._

“When are we stopping for food? I don’t want to be driving during rush hour,” Carwood asks, glancing at the time on his phone. He was sat directly behind Nix, Ron next to him with earphones in and ignoring everyone.

“We’ll stop when we’re hungry,” Dick replies.

“But I am hungry,” Nix argues. Dick’s about to tell him there’s snacks in the glove box until he screams.

“What? What?!” Dick asks, slamming on the breaks and scanning the horizon for the cause of Nix’s outburst.

“I thought I saw a cat on the road,” Nix replies, his breathing returning to its normal rate.

Dick sighs. It was a long ass drive ahead of them.

-

What feels like an eternity later, they finally arrive in San Francisco.

“What was Joe’s address again?” Carwood asks, leaning over to type it into the GPS in the car.

Nix looks through his phone briefly, before reading out the zip code and address, a robotic voice reading out directions over the sound of the Arctic Monkey’s album that was coming from the car’s speakers.

“They will have their own car, right? This is already stressful, we don’t need anyone else in this car,” Ron asks, leaning his head against the window.

Nix suppresses a laugh, “I can’t imagine their car is any better if you’re planning on jumping ship. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with Webster and Liebgott for hours in a car.”

Dick suddenly remembers a very similar event, “remember that year we went camping? Just after college and Luz and Toye ended up stuck sharing a tent with them?”

“They wouldn’t shut up about that for weeks!” Carwood comments, shaking his head.

“That’s why they have their own car,” Ron says, “no one wants to deal with that.”

They arrive outside their house, Ron leaning across Carwood to hold the horn down until the front door swings open.

Liebgott’s stood there, frowning. “Could ya idiots be any louder? Give us two minutes, okay?!” He calls, slamming the down behind him.

“You couldn’t have let me knock on the door?” Carwood rolls his eyes.

Ron shrugs, “it’s more fun this way.”

Dick climbs out the back seat of the car, “I’m going to see if they need help with anything.” Before he even approaches the door, he can hear the light bickering beyond it. He loved Web and Joe, he did, but he really didn’t understand their relationship at all sometimes.

Knocking on the door, he pulls his fist back when it swings open.

“I said give us a-oh!” Joe stops mid shout seeing it’s Dick standing there. “Sorry ‘bout that, thought you were Nix or Speirs.”

Dick offers Joe a smile, “no worries, do you need help with anything?”

Sighing, Joe turns to look at Webster. “I thought we had everything packed for the trip but Web’s lost his back up inhaler and he needs it.”

Webster almost cuts Joe off, “I haven’t _lost_ it, I just haven’t picked it up yet! I thought they weren’t arriving until later tonight.”

“What if we pick it up on the way out of town?” Dick suggests, sensing the tension between the two. “You guys can pick it up and then meet us somewhere for dinner.”

This seems to appease both Joe and Webster, who are in their car and leading the way down the street less than ten minutes later.

“What was it this time?” Nix asks.

“Webster needs to get his inhaler, they were arguing about what time we were meant to get here,” Dick answers, no one really needing any more context.

“Told you it was something about us, you owe me $5,” Nix grins in triumph, looking at Speirs.

Ron doesn’t look fazed, “I’ll make it back at some point on this trip, I know it,” he says, handing over a $5 bill from his pocket. Nix ignores him, launching into a story about walking in on Webster and Joe in their college days, something he swears he’ll never forget. Dick focuses on the road ahead of them, the sun slowly setting in the distance.

-

By the time they reach Chicago, Webster’s on the verge of screaming. Joe was a dangerous driver and an even worse back seat driver, he couldn’t wait for some company other than his boyfriend in the car with them. He wasn’t even sure why George and Toye had agreed to carpool with them specifically after the tent incident a few years ago, but apparently they were over that.

Or so he thought.

Pulling up outside their house, he’s pleasantly surprised by the neighbourhood they live in. “I thought we’d be in the middle of a gang war or something,” he comments, looking to Liebgott for a response.

“That’s the south side, they live in the fancy area. Perks of owning your own gym I guess,” he shrugs. It was no secret that Toye had come into a bit of money after acquiring an old gym a few years ago and fixing it up, Webster had just never seen the fruits of their labour before.

“Yeah, I bet Luz’s teacher salary barely covers half the house,” Webster adds, not unkindly. As a fellow academic himself, he understands that most of the staff were grossly underpaid.

Luz comes tumbling out of the front door, grinning as Toye follows him. They share a laugh as they walk down towards the car.

“Can’t believe we got stuck with you two,” Luz says, sliding into the backseat.

Toye follows him, “I better not see either of your asses this entire trip. Once was enough.”

Webster and Liebgott erupt into defence. “That was one time!”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about it again!”

Luz lets out a booming laugh, “I’m kidding, you guys are fine. But seriously, no asses.”

Liebgott sighs as he pulls away from their house, “the only ass in this car is you,” he mumbles.

Luz sees this as a challenge, the two of them engaging in a challenge to see who could out-embarrass the other with ridiculous stories. Webster puts in his earphones and hits play on the podcast he was listening to, drowning them out.

-

At some point during the drive, both cars pull into a diner for a quick meal and refuelling. All of the men pile into two booths in the diner, their loud voices carrying across the almost empty restaurant. After driving almost non-stop for hours, their sense of time had warped a little. Orders were made, a mix of breakfast food and dinner food, as the conversation quickly switched over to how everyone met.

“No, no, don’t you remember?” Nix argues, “I ran into you outside the library in our first semester. You walked into me and didn’t apologise.”

A look of familiarity crosses Speirs’ face, “oh yeah, in my defence you were the one who wasn’t looking where you were going.”

Nix mocks hurt, looking to Carwood for backup. “Don’t look at me, I’ve heard this story too many times and I still know you’re the one who walked into Ron, not the other way ‘round.”

“Betrayed by my own best friends, I can’t believe it,” Nix mumbles, taking a bite of his burger.

“Okay but what about you two?” Carwood asks, indicating to Dick and Nix.

Dick looks unbothered, “what about us?”

“Well, we still don’t know how or when you two met?”

Dick and Nix sharing a knowing look, this was a well kept secret that none of their friends knew. It wasn’t that they were purposefully keeping the secret, but it was fun to see them all come up with ridiculous guesses.

“It’s like I told you-,” Nix begins.

“We’ve known each other forever!” Their friends repeat back to them almost in complete unison, having heard this a hundred times before.

“See, you do know. We’ve just always known each other,” Nix replies, a small grin tugging at his lips.

“They’ll tell us when hell freezes over,” Luz laughs, reaching over the table to steal a few fries from Liebgott’s plate (he quickly swats his hand away, his attempt unsuccessful).

Nix scoffs, “just because you never shut up about you two meeting.”

Luz’s eyes light up and everyone groans, knowing where this was going. Even Toye’s cheeks heat up slightly.

“The year was 2009,” Luz clears his throat, “the evening brisk and chilly, a darkness seemed to be settling on the earth. I was walking home but forgot to look before crossing the street to my apartment. Then, all of a sudden, out of the night sky appeared two lights-.”

“Should have run you over when I had the chance,” Toye mumbles, cutting Luz off. George shoves Toye gently, ignoring his comment.

“As I was saying, two lights appeared out of nowhere. I thought ‘oh no, this is it. I’m going to die without ever telling Perco the new joke I heard that day.’ But then, the car jolts to a stop less than an inch away from me. And the scariest looking motherfucker steps out of the car, scowling at me.”

“You teach your students with that mouth?” Liebgott asks, using the distraction as an opportunity to successfully steal a few fries from Luz’s plate.

Thankfully for everyone apart from Luz, the conversation switches onto a different topic.

“I really wanted to tell them how we meet,” George sighs, looking at Toye.

Toye laughs softly, “they’ve heard it at least fifteen times, I’m pretty sure some of them can recount it off by heart. You can always tell it to me later, I love to hear you talk, Georgie.”

George beams in response, moving slightly closer to Toye in the already crowded booth. The coffee he had thirty minutes earlier was starting to buzz in his veins, he could feel his exhaustion from the long journey being numbed by the caffeine.

“Are we all ready to head out?” Dick asks, standing up to check that everyone had finished their meals.

“Still can’t shake that RA attitude, huh?” Nix jokes.

“I can still reprimand you,” Dick replies. Nix raises his eyebrow suggestively, Dick clearly not understanding the suggestion in his tone. It clicks a few seconds later and he blushes, Nix chuckling.

“You heard the man, we’re rolling out in five. Use the bathroom, refill your tanks, be in your designated car in five,” Carwood takes over, the youth mentor in him shining through. There’s a slight scramble as everyone throws down bills to cover their meal, Carwood making sure there’s a decent tip size left behind as well.

Toye sees it as the perfect time to take over driving, he was getting car sick from Liebgott’s driving and needed a break. Thankfully, both Webster and Liebgott were fine with swapping over, they agreed to use the few hours to catch up on some sleep after Webgott practically falling asleep on Liebgott’s shoulder in the diner.

“I’ve had enough coffee to keep me going for _hours,_ I hope you’re ready for that kind of energy,” George says, closing the passenger side door as he sits in the car. “I think I could run a race right now,” he adds, his speed picking up as he starts talking about something that Toye has long since tuned out.

Luz rambles to himself for all of an hour, before the cars full of quiet snores. With Liebott and Webster asleep since they left the diner, Toye welcomes the silence. Luz had literally talked himself to sleep, something he’d done before. Toye locks this memory away for a rainy day, the look of his beloved asleep as the light glow of the streetlights illuminate his face. His heart swells, if only for a moment at the sight.

-

Of course, they couldn’t visit Philly without stopping by at everyone’s favourite angry man, Guarnere. Toye practically runs to the door, embracing his best friend in a bone crushing hug. Everyone else is a bit slower to exit their cars, their limbs in desperate need of a break after being cramped up for so long.

“I’m so glad ya called!” Guarnere says, greeting everyone as he welcomes them into his house. There’s no way that eight men fight comfortably in his living room, but compared to the small dorm rooms they used to cram themselves into back in college, this was an improvement. “You seen Babe yet?” He asks.

“Nah, we’re on our way there after this,” Toye replies, smiling when he sees Frannie walk into the room behind Guarnere. She had a baby on her hip, almost everyone immediately fawning over her.

“God, Guarnere, how’d something as ugly as you make something as cute as this?” Luz asks, grinning at the baby girl.

“Don’t look at me, it was all Frannie,” he replies, smiling as he took in all of his friends melting over his baby. Even Web and Liebgott took turns holding her, albeit they were much quicker to hand her back to Frannie than the others.

“You sure that you can’t come?” Dick asks, feeling bad that his friend couldn’t join them on the rest of their trip.

“Nah, got this one to look out for now, feel like if I leave her now I’ll come back and she’ll be going off to college,” he laughs lightly, looking down at baby Olive in his arms. “Next time though, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Toye agrees.

After a home cooked meal from the Guarnere’s, there’s a rush of goodbyes and see you soons and Bill ushers everyone out, insisting that they leave quietly as to not wake Olive from her nap.

“Text me later, drive safe!” He calls from his front porch, watching as everyone gets into their cars.

Frannie comes up to stand behind him, “does he have any idea what’s happening?”

Bill shakes his head, “nah, the proposal’s a surprise. No one knows.” He smiles knowingly as they drive away, their cars disappearing at the end of his road.

-

Surprisingly, Speirs is the first one out the car to greet Babe and Roe. No one really knows when it happened, but somehow him and Babe developed the most unlikely close friendship over recent years. After initial greetings, there’s a bit of reshuffling between the now three cars that happens, before everyone is comfortable and ready to start driving again.

“Can’t believe you managed to get a whole week off work, Doc,” Carwood says, voicing his thoughts.

Roe shrugs, “I do a lot of overtime, they probably owed me a few days.”

Babe scoffs at this, “a lot is an understatement, pretty sure Gene’s practically moved into the ER at this point. He’s always there. I had to learn how to make my own dinner.”

“Surprised you didn’t burn the house down,” Speirs smiles, Babe throwing a glare in his direction.

“How’d we get stuck with you two, anyways?” Roe asks.

“We’ve been driving with Winters and Nix up until this point, I think we all needed the switch up,” Carwood answers.

“I wouldn’t want to be them right now, they’re stuck with Webster and Liebgott,” Ron mumbles.

Babe winces at this, knowing exactly what the two of them were like. “Hey, did you guys stop to see Guarnere?”

“We stopped by a few days ago to see Olive, she’s the cutest baby I’ve ever seen,” Roe adds, “and I see a lot of babies, so I know a cute one when I see one.”

Carwood chuckles softly, “yeah, we saw them earlier today. Weird to see Guarnere all serious, I still remember the days he’d set fireworks off on campus just to see what would happen.”

Babe’s face lights up at the memory, “remember that time he covered Skip and Malark’s dorm in bubble wrap? It took them days to get rid of it all!”

“I’ve never seen Dick closer to yelling at someone than that time he broke the window in his room by throwing a textbook through it,” Ron grins.

Roe was hiding a smile, “I’m glad we don’t all live together anymore, it’d be a disaster.”

“What makes you think this road trip won’t be a disaster?” Ron asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I love a bit of excitement,” Babe sighs, sitting back in his seat. He doesn’t see the flash of worry across Eugene’s face, but he had noticed the signs over the past few days. Gene was more quiet than usual and Babe thought it was something to do with work, hoping this trip would help his stress levels. He didn’t know it was the exact opposite.

-

Nix was about to blow, he had been sat in a car for too long and he forgot what it was like to sleep in an actual bed, not just taking short naps between driving. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Dick was sat in the backseat next to him, Webster driving and Liebgott in the passenger seat. There seemed to be a general irritation surrounding everyone after spending days on the road. The sun was beginning to set and no one really wanted to drive through another night.

“What if we stopped somewhere for the night?” Dick suggests.

“I’m not spending another night sleeping upright in these uncomfortable ass seats,” Liebgott replies, not taking his eyes off his phone.

Dick sighs, “no, I mean somewhere to sleep. I’m sure we could find a cheap motel to stay somewhere.”

This got Liebgott’s attention. “Oh yeah? I like the sound of that, I could use a real bed.”

“Bet we could,” Webster mumbles, earning a light punch from Liebgott.

“I’ll call and see if everyone else is up for it. Nix, wanna look for a motel somewhere about an hour from here?” Dick calls the other cars and it doesn’t take much to convince everyone to sleep somewhere for the night. Nix finds a cheap motel not far from them and with the knowledge that they’ll be in their own rooms for the night, the tension in the car eases.

However, the mood shifts once they pull into their agreed upon motel.

“Ohhhh, we’re definitely going to die here,” Babe mumbles, stepping out of his car. The building in front of them was dilapidated, the motel looked like it could have been the set of a number of badly made, budget horror films. There was an eerie feeling that no one really wanted to talk about, but it made for an uncomfortable silence.

“I don’t want a room with ghosts,” Webster admits.

“I swear to God, we’ve had this discussion before. Ghosts aren’t real,” Liebgott immediately snaps back.

Carwood and Dick exchange looks, “we’ll go get us the keys to our rooms,” Carwood says, really just wanting some privacy away from his friends. He loved them, but they could be a bit much sometimes.

Five minutes later and keys are dealt out, everyone getting a room per couple.

Luz looks at his key number and groans. “Really? We have to share a wall with these two?” He asks, indicating to Web and Liebgott.

“Better hope you have noise cancelling earphones,” Nix smirks, “Good nighttttt!” He calls, dragging out the last syllable as he walks away with Dick (who was shooting Luz a semi apologetic look).

“Web’s too afraid of the ghosts to do anything, you’ll be fine,” Liebgott sighs, walking to their assigned room. “Which aren’t real,” he adds, Webster looking like he was going to say something back but their door closes behind them before they can say anything.

Carwood and Speirs say goodnight, as do Luz and Toye who all enter their respective rooms, leaving Babe and Roe to find their own room. “There’s a murderer here, I can feel it,” Babe mumbles.

Gene laughs at his boyfriend, “C’mon, I promise if there is one I’ll protect you,” he takes Babe’s hand, guiding them to their room. Fortunately, the insides of the rooms were much more appealing than the outsides. There was a double bed in the middle of the room covered in garish orange bedding, the rest of the room following a similar colour scheme. The bathroom also had accents of orange that shone under the fluorescents of the light. Everything seemed clean, or at least not bad off, which was all they were asking for.

Between the five couples, there’s a range of routines before they’re all eventually asleep. Showers, snacks and some desperately needed alone time with each other before they’re out like lights, one after the other. Gene’s the last to fall asleep, the added weight in the front pocket of his jeans for tomorrow already weighing on him. He fell asleep to the soft snores of Babe next to him, somewhat calming his erratic heartbeat.

“Gene, wake up. _Gene_!”

Roe bolts awake, the morning light blinding him. “What is it?” He mumbles, his voice thick with sleep.

“I think I heard someone outside,” Babe whispers, eyes darting back and forth from their front door to Eugene. He sighs, rubbing his eyes and looking at the clock. 6.48am. Too early.

“I’m sure it’s just people leaving for the day, we still have an hour before we’re meant to leave,” he replies, lying back down. He reaches for Babe, pulling him from a sitting position into his arms.

“I _swear_ I heard someone,” Babe mumbles.

“I know, I believe you. I doubt it was a murderer though,” Gene jokes.

Babe pouts, “are you making fun of me? Because this hotel looks exactly like that one on that documentary I watched on true crime cases in Florida.”

Gene hides a grin, his boyfriend had a way of talking himself into a worry sometimes. “Never, mon amour.” He holds him for a few more minutes before Babe grows restless. 

“I’m gonna get changed, I’m hungry and I think I saw a vending machine last night with chocolate bars,” he announces. As he gets up, Gene spots him reaching for his jeans and feels his heart leap to his throat. Babe realises before he grabs them and reaches for his own jeans, giving Gene a few seconds to once again calm his heartbeat.

“Don’t make yourself sick, we still have a few hours drive ahead of us,” Gene calls after Babe as he leaves to get his version of ‘breakfast’. Babe shoots him a wink, before disappearing behind the closed door.

By eight am and everyone's back in their cars, albeit some of them clearly more awake than others.

“We only have a few hours then we’ll be there!” Babe announces excitedly, the sugar from his breakfast still in his veins. “I can’t believe I’m finally going to Disney World!”

Gene almost doesn’t trust him driving while he’s this hyper, but his nerves have the better of him. He tries to remember his training in med school for what to do when your nerves are controlling you, but he can’t seem to calm himself. Dealing with patients was one thing, knowing your entire life was about to change was entirely different.

-

Babe is practically bursting out of skin by the time they arrive at the gates of Disney World. “I can see the castle! Gene, ohmygod, I can see Mickey Mouse!” Gene laughs, his hand being crushed by his overexcited boyfriend.

Surprisingly, when Gene proposed this idea months ago everyone was behind it. Nix, Liebgott, Luz and Webster kinda just wanted an excuse to go to Disney World. Everyone else claimed they were there for Babe and Roe, but Gene didn’t mind either way, he was just glad they all managed to make it.

Babe pulls Gene into the main entrance with the castle in the background, dropping his hand as he turns to take in the view in awe. This gives Gene the much needed few seconds he needs to pull the box out of his jeans and get down on one knee. There’s a few audible gasps from people around them, he can feel the eyes of their friends burning into the back of his head.

Babe spins back around and almost falls over as he takes a step back in shock. “Gene, what’re you doing?”

The look on Babe’s face is the only motivation Gene needs to finally start speaking. “Babe, you always said you wanted a cheesy proposal at the happiest place in the world,” he grins, Babe still in shock. “So here I am, asking you in front of our friends and a couple dozen of strangers. You made me believe in love again, Babe. You single handedly rehung all the stars in my night sky and made me want to be happy again. You reminded me what it was like to be happy again. Really, truly, happy. And I don’t want to spend another day without that feeling, without _you._ So, Edward, will you marry me?”

The next two seconds were the longest in Gene’s life.

“Fuck yes!” Babe yells in response, before quickly realising the number of young kids around them. “I mean, heck yes!”

Gene laughs, an emotional, heart wrenching laugh as he stands up, embracing Babe in an embrace. The relief he felt was immense, his knees were shaking. Pulling back slightly, he slides the silver band on Babe’s finger.

Babe grins at Gene through his watery eyes, a joke rolling off his tongue, “Really? Edward? Only my mother calls me that.”


End file.
